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IndyCar’s Graham Rahal ready for next step with father Bobby’s team

April 17, 2013

Graham Rahal is ready to take the next step in his racing career. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

A few minutes after Graham Rahal had held off Helio Castroneves to win the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 2008, his father -- a former Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time CART champion -- moved into one of the few spots not crowded with onlookers along pit road, and there he saw Carl Haas.

The veteran car owner, a hardly-used unlit cigar in his mouth, had signed the 18-year-old rookie to his race team when it was dominating the Champ Car series, and two races into the amalgamation of that fallen formula and the Izod IndyCar Series, Rahal had won in his first start in the series.

Five years later, that victory remains a seminal moment in the career of one of open-wheel racing’s most intriguing drivers, certainly because it was his only IndyCar win to date, but also because it proved a point.

Rahal had asserted since he began progressing through developmental ranks a desire to win on his own and never be accused of being given a job by his father’s team, just as, coincidentally, rival Marco Andretti was working toward a spot on his father’s IndyCar team.

Rahal stayed with Newman/Haas until the team began fading out of the series after 2009. He hustled for sponsors and rides through 2010 before signing with Ganassi Racing, where he competed for two years, finishing third in the 2011 Indianapolis 500. Though he’s taken a meandering route, Rahal has finally found his way home, this season driving for his father’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team.

And now it feels right.

“We fought it for years,” Graham Rahal said. “And even the first time around when we went to Chip [Ganassi] with the sponsor, they almost seemed to be pushing more toward Dad as well but I had a contract with Chip, so they followed me, luckily. But I think it just makes the most sense. For them, having dad and [David] Letterman and [Mike] Lanigan, all of us together marketing-wise, media-wise, it’s far easier than me on my own.”

Bobby Rahal said that although marketing opportunities have presented themselves, “The main reason I did this is because I think we can have a lot of success.

“I was very supportive of him going elsewhere because I wanted him to earn the respect of his compatriots and the sport itself. He’s won, he’s run up front in a lot of races and so I don’t think he has to prove to anybody he belongs. He’s proven that. Now for us, it’s … I look at a lot of the races he’s had over the last few years and I felt strongly that they could have done a better job. We’ll find that out this year.”

At RLL, Rahal becomes the most accomplished and experienced driver, with James Jakes aboard as a teammate. Graham Rahal had four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais as a teammate for a season at Newman/Haas, and was part of the junior flank -- with Charlie Kimball -- of a Ganassi lineup of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, both champions and Indy 500 winners.

“I think there was definitely a difference in the [two Ganassi] teams, yes,” Bobby Rahal said. “Make no mistake, I was very appreciative that Chip had him on the team. I think everybody would have hoped there was more success because there were a lot of races when he was running very competitively until some strange strategy calls and what have you takes them right out of the running. It’s just unfortunate, but he did finish third in Indy with Chip, so that’s not too bad.”

Graham Rahal admitted, “In this case a lot of people said, ‘Oh, your dad saved your career,’ which is not really the case. I had a lot of options. I probably talked to almost every team in the paddock, but at some point you have to look at it and say, where is my best opportunity going to be, period? And for me it’s here.

“I need to find a way to take my career to the next level and this is my best means to do it. In no way is this a rescue. I’m only 24 and people forget that, so I feel like I have a long way to go and have a lot I want to accomplish. At the same time I feel like, where am I going to have the best place to move forward? And this is it.”